Integrative decision-making framework for techno-economic planning and sustainability assessment of renewable dominated standalone hybrid microgrids infrastructure at provincial scale of Pakistan

•Study proposed an integrated decision-making framework for techno-economic and sustainability assessment in the context of SDG-7 and SDG-13.•LCOE, NPC, and renewable diversity injection (R.Divinj) are the objective functions. In addition to environmental analysis, forests absorbing emission is also conducted.•PV coupled with hydro provides the most feasible results with average LCOE from 0.0359 $/kWh to 0.1185 $/kWh.•Northern zone remains most feasible zone for standalone electrification experiencing an average LCOE of 0.1026 $/kWh.•Comparative and sensitivity analyses are also performed for performance and behaviors evaluation of proposed systems. Renewable energy is considered a viable solution for addressing the energy crisis and environmental issues sustainably. However, instead of huge available renewable potential in especially Northern region of Pakistan, its potential undermining imposes a utilization of traditional energy resources, which poses a lot of sustainability and economic challenges. Focusing on almost 100% renewable fraction and solving the sustainable energy access issues of almost 0.439091 million energy consumers, this study proposes an integrative decision-making framework to carry techno-economic-environmental sustainability and optimal sizing of renewable dominated hybrid autonomous microgrids for 19 independent sites of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the aims of minimizing the Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and life cycle cost (LCC). A comparative analysis based on LCOE with already carried literature, dispatch strategies, and hydrogen storage-based system is also performed. In addition, environmental evaluation is performed along with required forests absorbing carbon analysis. At last, sensitivity analyses are performed for various uncertain variables. Optimization results showed that the PV system coupled with hydro remains the most feasible configuration with an average LCOE of 0.0359 $/kWh to 0.1185 $/kWh. Due to having a significant potential for hydel, Northern zone remains the most feasible zone for investing in standalone electrification infrastructure experiencing an average LCOE of 0.1026 $/kWh. A system with a 100% renewable fraction more specifically a combination of PV and wind proved the most environment-friendly configuration. In contrast, MG-08 experiences the highest GHG emission i.e., 5748.75 tonnes, thus requiring the largest forest area i.e., 523.15 ha to absorb carbon emissions. Developed model can provide a refer